Lazy Friday

I think we were all tired today after the past few nights of lots of activity. The weather also wasn't that nice, but we went downtown to Cleveland Park for a little while and then took a turn around the Greenville Zoo. We go there alot because my sister buys us a Zoo membership for Addy, but we always have a good time. My favorite animal is the big black pig...he's so gross, but he's so happy. Afterwards I had a good 3 hour nap...trying of course to gear up for a weekend of night shift.

Spring is definitely here...

Today was a beautiful day...warm but cloudy with a breeze. You can't ask for much more than that. After a morning run and lunch, Lucy and I took a quick trip to Heritage Park to walk around. The park is literally in my backyard, and while dogs aren't allowed in the actual park (which is so dumb), there are some big fields out front she can run around in.

Afterwards I came home and begrudgingly started on some yard work. I've already sprayed the weeds so all I had to do today was plant some flowers we picked out for around the mailbox and a few for the back yard perennial garden. The purple Lantana was a winner for the mailbox this year.

One of my favorite parts of spring is seeing the trees, flowers, and bushes we've already planted come back to life. The Crape Myrtle in the front is perhaps our prettiest tree each year. It is a Hopi Crape Myrtle...so technically it's more like a shrub, but I trim it so it looks like a tree.

I ended the evening by picking up Addy and heading home to cook for my mom and dad. Kristi had Bible study, so I figured it would be a good opportunity to have them over. Addy and I had a good time playing outside while the rice was boiling. Tonight Addy and I were talking about being happy, and I told her that sometimes it's OK to not feel happy, but at those times you still have to be joyful and content. She asked; "But why Daddy?" That was a really hard answer to communicate to a 2 year old. I think I mumbled something about God's love and His many blessings. I'll have to work on my answers to complicated kid questions I guess.

Mimi and Poppop came over and we all had a good time eating Honey Cayenne Chicken, broccoli, and fried rice. We even finished off the evening with some ice cream. After some time playing, it was time for everyone to call it a night...if only every night was this relaxing.

Vale of the Cross

This weekend I went to visit my sister in Valle Crucis, NC. This is right next to Boone, and is one of my favorite places to go. Going to her house is kind of like vacation. Not only is their house in a beautiful location, it is back off of the road in the woods and they have a hot tub. Kristi went to a women's conference, and Karen wanted to watch Addy...so off I went. This first picture was taken out the front door of my sister's house with my Sigma Lens.

Lucy came along for the trip...she gets a little nervous about the cats at my sister's house, but she enjoys it for the most part...especially the hiking. Friday I just ate dinner with Jenny, Pat, and their friend Brad. I guess I should have taken a picture, but I never got the camera out. Saturday they actually left for Greenville and Lucy and I drove up to Sloan Mountain, TN (or right next to it) and hiked a few balds at Carver's Gap. I'm not sure how many miles we went, but I would guess around 5 total. Lucy's legs are short so she gets tired climbing over large boulders. All of these pictures were taken with my Sigma Lens.

This next picture is probably the most epic of Lucy I have ever taken...and probably one of my favorite pictures that I have ever seen.

Since Lucy got pretty worn out, I decided to take her home and go out by myself for the afternoon. On our way back I stopped at a restaurant I had picked out that looked like a place for locals. The BBQ was delicious, and there were some very mountain looking folks inside.

I drove up to a trail off of the Blue Ridge Parkway to hike in the afternoon. It wasn't that great of a trail, and it wasn't much of a hike, but it was still nice to walk around - even though I had to dodge a good bit of horse poop from all the horseback riders.

That night I went to visit some good friends who live in Blowing Rock, a few miles away. Caleb and I have been friends for several years, and he holds the distinct honor of having put the largest dent I have in my acoustic guitar with a gobstopper...you'd have to ask me in person how that happened. The following pictures are all from my Canon 50mm.

I finished up the last morning by heading out to the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the sunrise. My pictures didn't turn out that well, but it was really cold so I wasn't very motivated.

What better way to follow up than by eating here?

I made the mistake of eating at a table that I guess locals usually eat at, so some local old mountain guy came and sat with me. He said he'd been eating at that table every morning for the past 7 years. He was very nice and told me if I ever wanted to move up there he knows of land that is going up for sale...I told him I know where to find him.

All in all it was a great weekend...very relaxing and I had alot of time to think about my life. I told Kristi I just don't really enjoy typical things like shopping and movies, so I think getting out of suburbia is good for me. Who knows, maybe we will move there one day.

Here's a few more pictures of stuff at my sister's house in closing...

I've been so productive I might collapse...

It's amazing what you can get accomplished when you are up at 3AM. I usually try to go back to sleep for 30-45 minutes when I wake up that early, but after that I just give up and start doing things. Today I got a 9 mile run in, ran errands, did lots of homework, mowed the lawn, trimmed bushes, and pulled weeds. After that Lucy and I went to Lake Conestee Nature Park in Mauldin and walked around for a while.

 

It was a little hot for Lucy, and I think she is a little out of shape, so it was slow moving at times. On the way to and from the park, there is a few farms with livestock, so I took time to stop and take some pictures. 

 Once we got back home it was time to cook for the night. Addy was terrible tonight because she didn't nap today, but we did have a good time running around outside while Kristi continued pulling weeds where I had left off. Even Oliver got in on the action and came outside for a little bit. He typically isn't allowed outside. He used to go in the back yard whenever he wanted, but then there was an incident where he jumped the fence and didn't come back for a while...so now we don't really let him out. I just can't stand the thought of losing a pet...